Cop fired for using Trayvon Martin images in target practice

People along with New York City Council members attend a press conference to call for justice in the February 26 killing of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, on the steps of City Hall March 28, 2012 in New York City. (AFP Photo / Allison Joyce) / AFP

A Florida policeman has been fired for using photos of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, shot and killed last year by a neighborhood watchman, for target practice. Martin's family attorney condemned the act as “depraved.”

Sgt. Ron King of the Florida's Port Canaveral Police Department
allegedly offered paper shooting targets emblazoned with Martin's
image to two other officers, an internal review revealed. He was
dismissed on Friday for possessing a number of such shooting
targets.
"Port Canaveral Police Department considers that behavior
unacceptable," John Walsh, CEO of the Port Canaveral Authority
said. King reportedly acquired the paper targets online and brought
them to a firearms training session.

Martin, 17, was gunned down by neighborhood watchman George
Zimmerman in February 2012 in Sanford, about 50 miles northwest of
Port Canaveral. Zimmerman claims that he shot the teenager in
self-defense, and will stand trial for second-degree murder in
June.

The Martin family says that Martin was unarmed when Zimmerman shot
him, and had left his father’s house in the neighborhood to go to a
convenience store.

"It is absolutely reprehensible that a high-ranking member of
the Port Canaveral Police, sworn to protect and serve Floridians,
would use the image of a dead child as target practice,"
attorney Ben Crump said in a statement. "Such a deliberate and
depraved indifference to this grieving family is
unacceptable.”

In an unexpected move, Zimmerman waived his right to a
'stand-your-ground' in March of this year, relinquishing the
opportunity to convince the judge pre-trial that he had acted in
self-defense. Had he succeeded, his actions would have been deemed
self-defense and the murder charges would have been dropped.

The stand-your-ground law allows Florida citizens to defend
themselves with deadly force in public if they believe they are
being threatened. Martin’s death sparked a wave of protest against
the controversial law demanding that it be overturned. Under this
legislation, Zimmerman initially managed to evade arrest.